Many years ago I was fortunate enough to be invited to a fait do do at which the Balfa Brothers were featured along with Nathan Abshire. As I recall, they told us the name for the party, fait do do, meant something like the children are sleeping.

They played two distinct styles of music. During the afternoon, they played outdoors and did a strictly traditional, acoustic set featuring the twin fiddles of Will and Dewey with Rodney on Guitar and Abshire alternating between "French" accordian and triangle. Following a fabulous gumbo meal prepared and served by their families we all went into the barn for a Cajun dance. The music turned electric and the Cajun dance style turned out to be indistinguishable (to me) from the jitterbug. As an additional treat, Bill Keith showed up and sat in on banjo.

The dance music played in the barn may have been zydeco but they just called it "Cajun dance music." I don't think I'd yet heard the word zydeco at that time (c. 1974).

      - Mark